B.T.B. Boasts ‘Groundbreaking’ Tourism Arrivals Figures

The Belize Tourism Board is boasting ‘groundbreaking’ figures as it relates to tourism arrivals. B.T.B.’s latest stats show that for the first six months of 2018, overnight tourism arrivals and cruise ship arrivals registered a seventeen point one cumulative increase. For the month of June, B.T.B. registered more than forty-three thousand overnight arrivals. This is a fifteen percent increase when compared to June 2017.  In the cruise ship arrivals category, in June there were twenty cruise ship calls which brought in more than seventy-three thousand passengers to Belize. This, compared to the same month in 2017, is a fifty-seven percent increase. It might be just numbers for some; but for the local stakeholders it’s good news for their businesses. News Five’s Hipolito Novelo reports.

Hipolito Novelo, Reporting

Tourism Arrivals are up in Belize. This is according to the Belize Tourism Board and its mid-year figures. Compared to the first six months of 2017, the first half of this year has recorded ‘groundbreaking’ figures. The numbers show a ‘steady upward trend’ in both the overnight and cruise categories.

Jocelle Stephen

Jocelle Stephen, Marketing and Public Relations Manager, B.T.B.

“By the end of June, we saw a seventeen percent growth when we compare 2018 January to June to January to June 2017. Also in Cruise we saw an increase of ten point two percent in the amount of passengers that have disembarked and arrived in Belize through the cruise. For us it’s really a testimony to the fact that we continue to push our marketing strategies. We continue to build on our capacity building and of course product development destination planning are critical factors for us at B.T.B.”

Marketing and Public Relations Manager at B.T.B., Jocelle Stephen, says that their international marketing strategy is multi-faceted with an emphasis on the digital world. Stephen says that digital marketing is more captivating for the tourists.

Jocelle Stephen

“We do that in most of our source markets, North America, in Europe and also the Netherlands for example. For us also we do media trips, influencers’ trips and they play a very great role in marketing Belize for us when they give us the exposure whether through their post on Instagram, Facebook or through their publications. It’s also important to h highlight the fact that our marketing agencies push and promote Belize. We do heavy digital placements because it is more engaging. It is the way the marketing is heading.”
Stephen says that the figures demonstrate that Belize is no longer a hidden destination but a sought out tourism paradise. It also means more business for local stakeholders.

Jocelle Stephen

“That translates for not only B.T.B. for the economy on a whole. You are talking about the increase of tourism, you are talking about increased jobs, you are talking about increased dollars being spent here. Cruise arrivals is a strategic market for us in the sense that we want is when they come here that they are so intrigue in Belize that they want to comeback as an overall night arrival. Belize is no longer a secret destination.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Hipolito Novelo.